


Brine And Bone

by steelrunner



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Drabble, Gen, M/M, Minor Injuries, Pre-Slash, basically grumpy old man Zarkon finds Lance and decides not to eat him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-12
Updated: 2016-10-12
Packaged: 2018-08-22 00:41:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8266375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steelrunner/pseuds/steelrunner
Summary: In the ocean, your fate isn't always your own.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by hardlynotnever's [art](http://hardlynotnever.tumblr.com/post/151453207140/avianlance-caught-in-spidermorphhaggars-web-and) of mer!Lance and sea creature!Zarkon on Tumblr.

The floor of the ocean was craggy and uneven, dipping up and down into shadowed ravines or dead volcanoes with no order. In places it panned out to flat stretches of sand where fish and crabs camouflaged themselves. Only the most desperate of predators hunted there, where they usually had no competition and their prey had few defenses. 

Usually.

The shark thrashed as massive armored arms wrapped around it, writhing even harder as the edge of a razor sharp tail sliced into its side. Zarkon snarled as he bit down on the back of the shark's head, crunching through flesh and bone until he cracked the skull. The shark stilled after that, and Zarkon ended it with another bite. He took his time feeding - though unfortunately, that wasn't long. The shark had been a small one, ill-fed. It seemed like they had begun to shrink over time, even the white-bellied ones that had given Zarkon trouble even in his prime.

He finished his meal, leaving the bones in one of the niches he used to store food for later. Then he went back to scanning the water around him, watching his territory. To eyes not adapted to such darkness, the sea was a void, compounded by the filth-tinged water of the surface. In fact, light was something that almost never came this far down. 

And yet, something glinted in the murky water above.

Zarkon stirred, the movement of his massive body throwing up clouds of silt as he rose. He pushed off the seabed, using the length of his tail to propel himself, and for the first time in many years he swam upwards.

As he drew closer, he began to make out the lithe shape of a shallow-dweller. Now that was a puzzle. Shallow-dwellers never swam this far down, for reasons of biology as well as custom. They were suited for the warmer waters of the coasts and southern reefs. Zarkon couldn't begin to remember how long it had been since he'd last saw one. Then he drew close enough to see its movements, and he realized it was not swimming, but drifting. Sinking.

Zarkon swam until he was hovering over the shallow-dweller, and reached out for it. It was covered in dirt, even the sensitive gills along its sides. He lacked the bony plates of Zarkon's species, or any kind of protective covering whatsoever. The soft skin of its upper half was covered in great open sores. Shimmering blue scales were scraped up and torn, worn raw by the netting wrapped around its tail and torso. The work of humans, most likely, unless the shallow-dwellers had taken to catching their own kind. Zarkon made a low sound of disgust. The humans should have been put down as soon as one of them had set sail onto the water. Hadn't he warned them, even a thousand years back?

Zarkon cradled its head in his hand, turning it upwards. Its eyes were closed, mouth slack, with no sign to show it even knew it was being held. Left to chance, the shallow-dweller wouldn't survive for long, wasting away and suffocating. Cut the damaged flesh away, and well over half of it might still be edible. 

Yet - its gills were still working, clogged as they were. He could still hear its pounding hearts, feel the thunder of its pulse under its fragile skin.

After a moment of thought, Zarkon lifted his wrist to his mouth and tore the skin open with his teeth. Blood leaked out in a cloud, the same luminescent purple of his eyes. The water around them took on a hazy glow. Zarkon pressed his wrist to the shallow-dweller's mouth, spreading his blood over its tongue, and then anointing its wounds. Its heartbeat surged almost immediately, muscles spasming as its wounds began to close.

No. He didn't think he was ready to give up on this curiosity just yet.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry/not sorry about the cliffhanger. Thanks for reading, and feel free to drop messages and/or writing prompts at my [Tumblr](http://mistlethace.tumblr.com).


End file.
